Electrochemical synthesis of TiO2/Graphene oxide composite films for photocatalytic applications

This paper presents a novel TiO2-Graphene composite film one-step preparation method by electrochemical synthesis. The films were prepared on a Ti substrate by electrochemical deposition from a GO and Ti (IV) aqueous solution. For comparison, pure TiO2 on a Ti substrate was obtained by the same electrochemical method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. The photocatalytic properties of the films were investigated for the discoloration of Reactive Yellow 145 dye. The results showed that the TiO2-Graphene oxide composite film presented photocatalytic activity almost twice as high as that observed for the TiO2 film. In addition, the TiO2-Graphene oxide composite film presented better stability and recyclability, retaining its catalytic efficiency (≈70%) even after 15 cycles.